RKII Tube Upgrade

[smashingchicago]

OK, I received my new tubes today, but it seems my Tung Sol 12AX7 that goes in V1 has a burnt top -- which I take it to mean it's bad (again, I am relatively new to tube technology). So I am running the original Mesa 12AX7 in V1. Overall, the tone sounds nicer than what I had before -- but I am wondering how much nicer it might sound with the new Tung Sol in V1.

 

[Dr.Viossy]

I ordered the tubes yesterday. The RK II arrived with 3 broken tubes. Now I hope the new tubes come undamaged. Otherwise I won't buy anything else from USA

 

[smashingchicago]

I ordered the tubes yesterday. The RK II arrived with 3 broken tubes. Now I hope the new tubes come undamaged. Otherwise I won't buy anything else from USA

I bought my RKII in a store with an "undisclosed number" of broken tubes. Mesa couldn't really determine which ones were bad through their troubleshooting process (we kept blowing fuses over and over no matter what we swapped out). So I ended up driving back to the store where they replaced ALL the tubes except the preamps (2 weeks later, Mesa even sent me out another set of replacement tubes and fuses for my troubles).


Once they did that, the amp worked (as in I could FINALLY hear sound from it), but the level of distortion didn't seem quite to the level that I wanted and I had that "muddy" sensation - hence the reason I ordered a re-tube kit.


Anyway, tubes are just one of those things that DO go bad and it's not an uncommon occurence.

Going back to the "muddy" issue in my RKII -- a big part of the muddiness I was experiencing was due to the pickups in my RG1570. I have the X2N in the bridge -- that pickup just doesn't have a good low end sound and I am going be swapping that out in the near future. My Ibanez SZ720 sounds much better (chunkier) with the EMG's.

I think I am going to drop a DSonic in the bridge on my RG1570.....

 

[Dr.Viossy]

I asked Bob to make a good and safe package, 'cause the RK came with 3 cracked 12AX7. I didn't tell MESA 'cause in Italy I have a very good and friendly dealer who had all the tubes replaced by an authorized tech. Let's hope for my Christmas present